Sandy Nathan's YOUR SHELF LIFE

On May 2, 2012, awards for the the last few categories of the 2012 IPPY (Independent Publisher) Awards were announced. Did your book receive an award in the 2012 IPPYs? Mine didn’t, either. I’ve been entering the IPPYs for years. This was the first time I didn’t win something. Kinda shocking.

I know, it hurts to have your masterpiece spurned. It doesn’t hurt half as much as getting a one star review, though. That’s like a crossbow bolt to the heart, except you don’t get to die. You get to read those words savaging your beloved baby forever, or as long as your book’s Amazon page lasts. So losing in the IPPYs isn’t that bad.

You feel better already, don’t you?
This is an article about surviving not winning in book contests. Usually I write about how to win book contests. One of the things I say in those articles is that you can do everything I say about “winning” and still lose. I just proved that it can happen to anyone.

I just received a notice from Jim Barnes of the Jenkins Group, which hosts the IPPY (Independent Press) Awards. The IPPYs are the oldest and largest contest for books produced by independent presses.

THEY’RE STARTING TO ANNOUNCE THE 2012 WINNERS ON APRIL 27TH. ALL THE AWARDS WILL BE ANNOUNCED BY MAY 1!

HOLY MACARONI! THAT’S NEXT WEEK!
In honor of the last phases of book contest participation, I’m re-posting my Mother’s Day bulletin of 2011. In it, I set out exactly what I do to win awards in contests. It’s too late to do any of that stuff this year, the contests are closed and in the judging process. (Though you can still get into the Best Books of 2012 (USA Book News). They have the latest closing and award announcement dates of the indie contests.)

If you do read my earlier article, which follows these introductory remarks, you may want to run screaming, vowing never to think about book contests.

Is that what it takes to win? Yeah. That’s exactly how I’ve done it.

The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy has now won four national awards:

1. 2011 IPPY (Independent Press) Awards Gold Medal in Visionary Fiction: The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy The oldest and largest contest for independent presses. Almost 4,000 books were entered in the IPPYs this year.

2. 2011 National Indie Excellence Award Winner in Visionary Fiction: The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy The Indie Excellence Award looks for a book’s overall excellence. Content, cover design, interior and exterior, and everything that goes into the production of a book are evaluated.

And the new wins noted above:

3. Best Books of 2001 sponsored by USA Book News: The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy is an AWARD WINNER in the “Fiction: New Age” category.

4. Best Books of 2001 sponsored by USA Book News: The Angel is also a FINALIST in the “Fiction: Fantasy/Sci-Fi” category.
THE ANGEL & THE BROWN-EYED BOY HAS BEEN ENTERED IN THREE CONTESTS. IT HAS WON FOUR AWARDS IN NATIONAL COMPETITION. IT’S WOWED THE JUDGES, CRITICS, AND REVIEWERS. If you like Fantasy, Sci-fi, Visionary Fiction or just a good, engaging read, check out The Angel.

Not only is The Angel an incredibly inventive book with a message and a heart, two sequels are in the process of being published. Find out what happens after the world blows up.